Thanks for sharing some of the quotes your received. Numbers really help put things in perspective, especially since that is around the same amount of acreage we are looking to clear.
With the price of this property, the investment would definitely be worth it IMO, if the cost was in a similar ballpark range here. I think it would also raise the property value quite a bit.
[quote="“Obsidian Fire,post:17,topic:463897”]
This.
Just 'cause there is no HOA does not mean there are no deed restrictions. If it was part of a “legal subdivision” there are rules that will govern what you can, and can’t, do.
MD is a Nanny State and has been for decades. Columbia, MD (in Howard Co.) was one of the early “planned development” cities in the U.S. I had a colleague who lived there and the restrictions he described were draconian (IMO). He thought living under a totalitarian regime was just fine! 
Before you put down any money look at the deed and see what, if any, restrictions are contained or referenced.
As to actual clearing, do you mean clear cutting for pasture or just “thinning out” the underbrush to provide shade, wind breaks, etc.? The former will likely run in the $3000-$5000 per acre range in that part of the world. Then, after the trees are gone and the stumps dealt with, you will have couple of years of significant expenses to address the fertility of the soil, removal of weeds, and the actual planting of grass. This will not be cheap, either. This, IMO, is the REAL reason you don’t see too much land clearing for ag purposes.
G.
[quote="“Guilherme,post:22,topic:463897”]
… and where you take stumps out, you will have to grade to level over the years, or have pastures with divots in them.
About when it the baby due?
Do you need to buy/move before then?
If so, then maybe you have to made do with most anything, not keep waiting to find something?
Then the question would be, not if to buy and clear, but how to clear and how much work and money and aggravation that would be.
I have nothing to offer about clearing, etc. But I do feel your pain regarding finding the right horse property. I have a very small farm (6.5 acres). I was single when I was looking, so it needed to not only be turn key, but in a smaller budget since only one salary paying for it, and it needed to be an easy set up since I also work full time and have a child with primary custody.
My realtor and I looked and looked. Most things were way out of my price range. If they were in my price range, they either needed a lot of work, or were awkward, or mostly wooded, or, or, or. I was very disheartened. I looked for 3 years as well. Finally I got the call to go look at a place “RIGHT NOW”. I was driving my horse to a show. I dropped him at the grounds, got a friend to feed him and watch him, and then drove to the property. She was right, it was perfect. I was left with ZERO doubts from the second I saw it. I made the best offer I could (it was top of my price range). Six offers that day. Sleepless nights. But then they took my offer.
The house is older, but partially updated and very livable. The barn needed only minor work. The ring was the only thing that was a hot mess, so that took a while to get right. All this to say I KNEW. I mean I KNEW–no second guessing, no getting multiple opinions. Maybe your perfect property is still out there!!!
When I was looking for property in 2016, the agent kept showing me wooded lots. Hey it’s the PNW, I get it, we have lots of trees. But five acres of pine woods with a “cleared build site” was not on my list. Even with water and septic already there. I tried to explain that I expected it to take two years before cleared pine would become pasture. She just thought I could get a timber company in to clear. I told her, they take trees, they leave stumps and everything else. So add in dealing with stumps, which is paid work, and then amending the soil, then seeding and waiting for it to be established…
I went with the one I found without her and before I engaged her services. She wanted to show me other options because the one I found was more expensive. Worth it.
OP if you like it, you can clear out areas within the treed area and have some established windbreak with pasture. It isn’t all bad. But it’ll take time and work and money, just like everything else.
If the barns and land meet your needs then I would consider it. A bit of work on a ho-hum house can really change how you feel about it.
We looked at a place that had a house I didn’t think I could ever live in. The land and barns were exactly what we needed. We bought it , did a bit cosmetic work on the house and it ended up being a place I never wanted to leave. ( job transfer made us do that).
Another place had a house that needed a fair bit of work, but once again the barns and land were what we needed. Again we bought it and never regretted it.
You can fence in wooded acreage for horses. We had 7 acres of woods that my horses used as is and did just fine.
2 acres is more than enough to put several horses out in and just feed hay year round. With all the metabolic issues that are on the rise I would love to have a bigger area to put the horses out in unmuzzled.
OP, I’d call a land guy and get a quote. And be sure to ask about whether or not he can remove your size of trees with the equipment he has AND do the stumps. Not pulling out the stumps is not an option.
Here in Aiken, SC I think land clearing is between $3,000 and $3,500/acre. It is commonly done because (contrary to the statements about all valuable land having been cleared already), there were pine forests planted for pulp. Lots of horse people clear that kind of land.
My rules of thumbs are 1. I will actually research stuff and get numbers that are as firm as I can. 2. I won’t say definitively Yes or No until I have solid information that dictates that decision.
If you do get a land guy to give you a quote, however, do take him out to see your place. He needs to see the actual trees and land he’ll have to work on. And you, he (and the county?) will have to know whether you can legally burn the debris there or have it removed. The removal makes a big difference in cost.
Good luck!
We cleared six acres for our farm.
Mvp’s quotes were a bit higher than what we paid, but it depends on your area and how much grooming the land needs.
The first step for us was contacting the county forester. Our forester gave us a free assessment of the trees and advised us the best way to proceed so that we could keep the trees likeliest to survive and cut the ones that were doing poorly. The land was pasture a long time ago, then planted slash pines, which had been left too long. The trees were dying and falling because they can get a disease from the oaks that will weaken them over time. They needed to come down. He also identified the areas of our new farm that had native trees and we left those areas and even fenced them out to protect the habitat. In our pasture, we left clumps of mixed deciduous trees that were trying to grow between the pines. It’s been several years and those trees changed from spindly and fragile looking to strong, healthy trees. Many trees you randomly try to save will not make it, so you need help picking which ones to keep. They need to be in clusters and don’t forget that they could be damaged by any larger trees that are taken down next to them. There is a cool machine they can use to grab the tree and move it while it’s still upright, but the branches will break as they are moved. We also left all the oaks (excellent shade and great for soaking up water on flat land). Begin with the county forester. It’s free and if you do it wrong, the trees you pick may die that first year, leaving your animals with no shade.
Another thought is paying attention to what time of year you cut the trees and the impact on wildlife. You could always cut and clear a small patch every year, especially since you only want two acres done. That gives the wildlife a chance to relocate. The squirrels raise babies twice per year. Nesting birds will feel it most in the spring, but it depends on your area. Some hatch chicks more often. We tried our best to clear when babies were old enough to be on their own and before the next litter or eggs came along. .
I think you said you were in Maryland? Try this link:
Let me just add, my husband and our neighbor, both own excavation equipment. They were both optimistic that they could knock it out. But with other jobs, and not the right equipment, we ended up hiring. We needed someone with a crawler and a smaller bobcat.
Even though the land has no bodies of water, there will likely be drainage issues with completely flat land. We’ve (Virginia and Maryland) been saturated in the last two years. By pulling up trees, you’ll be further destroying the natural erosion control. Grading for drainage will be necessary.
We cleared 4 acres in September 2018 - it took 2 days to clear the land using the mulching method and a huge subsoiler came in on the 3rd day to turn the mulch into soil. We got a quote for the traditional method and it was a lot of money and would have taken quite a bit of time. The method we selected cost less than a quarter of the price over traditional clearing methods and left no stumps or holes. The trees and plants were mulched into the soil which helped our very sandy soil.
We planted pasture seed almost immediately and by spring we had grass, though the horses were not allowed on the back paddocks until very late spring. We made 3 paddocks - the main paddock and 2 back paddocks.
Wood chunks are working their way up to the surface so we take the ATV and trailer out and pick over the fields but it’s not too bad. We also had Purple Vetch come up that we had to eliminate. Aside from these issues, it was worth every penny and we’d do it again.
We bought our property about 2 1/2 years ago. One large lot (probably over an acre) was totally wooded. To cut down and grind the stumps (which we did NOT want) ran from $18,500 to $33,000. We had the trees and stumps removed and all brush burned, including stumps. I didn’t think the stump burning would work, but it did. Needless to say, while it was significantly cheaper than cutting and stump grinding, it was still very expensive. As we were disturbing the soil by removing the stumps, we had to have a county permit which was $200. We also needed silt fencing by the creek and on the side of the lot that bordered the green space (don’t know why as it’s all woods and overgrown shrubs???); that was about $2500. While the burning is pretty much finished, we have ruts and our tractor can’t handle the terrain with a box scraper. Some of those ruts came from stumps that were 5 feet deep. We had the soil analyzed a couple years ago and it’s really lime deficient, so that’ll take several applications as well as nitrogen, etc. It’ll be a while before we have a viable pen. Right now we’re in the rainy season (what I call winter in Atlanta) and I don’t think much will get done. Good luck!
A few ideas. The first thing is to visit the local tax office or planning, permitting/zoning office and find out the zoning, setbacks, easements, etc etc for the property. It may in fact be two different parcels with two different zonings. THey can tell you the legal aspects of clearing the land. That will answer many of the questions raised here.by others.
If you do decide to buy, let me tell you about my 5 acres. I have about 1.5 ac of nice pasture in three paddocks, and about 2 ac of trees behind the house. Mature deciduous trees, so nice to ride under in the heat of the summer. If you even partially clear a few acres of it out of smaller trees etc you could have a nice riding/hacking area. Then slowly work on clearing out the rest for paddocks as your funds and energy permit. Also, in the north you have grasses that will grow in the shade - not so much here in Florida. So perhaps you could have some light grassy areas under the trees…
As someone who is in the midst of clearing right now - it’s A LOT of work. Especially if you don’t want to clear cut the land. We’re doing it ourselves b/c we want to save as many trees as possible. We’re doing it in stages and it’s certainly doable but again, a lot of work.
Also, lots of land is worth clearing and just hasn’t been for various reasons in many locations. Ours was used as a hunting tract prior to us buying it. We wanted to be in a specific location and this was the best option. Is it cost-effective? Not really - by the time we’re done, we’ll have spent a lot more than buying a “ready” farm. But we love where we are and since cost was a factor, this has allowed us to do it in stages.
We cleared a little over an acre of our property. There were approximately 150 trees there, almost all pine and infected with beetles. To have them cut down and grind the stumps was really expensive (I always get 3 estimates). We ended up having the trees totally removed (stump and all). That was a lot cheaper. We had to get a permit approved by the county, have silt fencing put in and have the inspector review that before we could start. Finding a contractor for us was difficult. The silt fencing can’t come down until after grass is established and the inspector reviews. That’s where we are now. It’s taken a really long time. Unfortunately, in the middle of the process, our contractor (which we loved) passed away which caused some lengthy delays. Even though we’re on flat land, for the most part our equipment couldn’t have handled all that work. Yes, it’ll cost some money.
Rather than an “all or nothing” approach, maybe you could clear half of the 11 acres and leave the other acreage in trees, cut some trails. That would give you 5 or 6 acres in pasture in addition to what you already have. It takes about 2 years to establish pasture after clearing the land.
As other posters have mentioned, get some quotes for clearing and stump clearing. Check with your local government for any restrictions, although if you are in Texas I doubt there are many restrictions on land clearing other than protecting any streams.
Cleared land is going to increase your property values, so I wouldn’t view it as just an expense, but as a property improvement.
The fact that the barn on this property is turn key is a huge plus. Have you priced the cost of building a barn recently? Costs have gone up dramatically. A new 36 x 36 foot barn with a concrete center aisle is going to run you $80,000 at a minimum.
If the barn is great and the house is OK, I would definitely pursue getting quotes on clearing the woodlands and putting in pasture. You may have found a diamond in the rough.
Hey Everyone,
OP here. Thanks for bumping this back up, but the property in question has been long sold given that I started this thread over a year ago. 
If anyone is keeping track with our never ending real estate search, we found a fabulous property. Maybe not perfect, but it definitely didn’t feel like a compromise as it had almost everything we wanted. After over 3 years of searching, it felt like the gift we were waiting for!
…then the DH got cold feet. Sigh.
Currently waiting for more options to come on the market, for a house or husband. 
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
